Archive: News

County Legislators were urged to carefully weigh the long-term impact of a recommended cut in youth services funding Monday, one of several messages voiced by citizens who attended the Community Budget Forum on the County’s 2011 tentative budget.

More than 60 people attended the forum, and about 20 spoke, nearly half of those urging that youth services funding be restored to the budget. The Tentative Budget would eliminate the Municipal Youth Development Program, which reallocates a quarter-million dollars in County tax revenue as matching funds to support municipal youth programs. 

Numerous Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) police officers systematically abandoned their assigned duty posts to go to work at other jobs while being paid by the authority, a practice that was condoned and participated in by high-ranking officers, according to an audit released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“This was an egregious abuse of taxpayer dollars,” DiNapoli said. “These officers are sworn to uphold the law and protect the public. Instead, they treated their oath of duty as a license to enrich themselves.  No one can do two jobs at once and taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for cops who aren’t on the job.  The NFTA needs to do a much better job rooting out time and attendance abuse in its police force.”

Through the month of September streets along Auburn Road have been targeted apparently by young people vandalizing or stealing items from vehicles parked at homes and businesses.  Wednesday the Tompkins County Sheriff's Department was inundated by calls from victims whose cars had been rifled Tuesday night.  Department representative told victims that three young people had been picked up Wednesday morning, and the department was looking for more.  Both the Sheriff's Department and State Police continued to investigate, interviewing victims throughout the day.

Tuesday's rash of break-ins took place along Searles Road.  Police said that in most cases the perpetrators were looking for loose change, but other items were taken including keys, registration and insurance certificates, and a laptop computer.  On Friday keys were taken from a Bobcat loader near Searles Road, and earlier in the month incidents of vandalism in the Buck Road area were reported.

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New York state will face a cumulative spending gap that could exceed $37 billion through State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2013-14 largely because policymakers depended on temporary and non-recurring resources in the near term without a permanent long-term solution, according to a report State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released today.

“There was an opportunity to begin addressing the structural deficit by using temporary resources as a bridge to reform,” DiNapoli said. “Instead, these resources were again used to prop up unsustainable spending.  Nothing was done to reform how the budget is planned or constructed, and taxpayers will continue to pay the price for the state’s short-sightedness.”

Over the past four years the Tompkins County Public Safety Building, including the jail, on Warren Road has clogged the Village of Lansing sewer three times.  At least two of those times clogs caused damage to neighboring properties, plus the expense to Village taxpayers of unclogging the sewer.   Mayor Donald Hartill says the municipality has had enough... either the Sheriff's Department cleans up its act by installing what amounts to a giant garbage disposal, or the Village will install a screen that will corral sewer backups onto the Sheriff Department lawn.

"We will protect our system," Hartill says.  "The protection will be a screen that will permit normal material to get through, and prevent this material from getting through.  That manhole will fill up, and it will be in their yard, not somebody else's yard."

Village of Lansing Trustees accepted an amendment to local law Monday that will allow Village residents to hunt deer on their own property even when they are within 500 feet of their own residence.  If passed next month the legislation will amend a 2007 law that paved the way for the Village's annual deer population control program.  Firearms are prohibited, as are crossbows and other weapons.  But exceptions to the law allow long bow hunting under certain circumstances, which currently restricts hunters to stay 500 feet or more away from any residence.

"The Village only permits bow hunting," says Village Attorney David Dubow.  "Our current law prohibits any kind of hunting within the Village, but then it excepts bow hunting under certain conditions."

New York State lost $100 million over a four year period because the State Department of Health’s (DOH) eMedNY Medicaid reimbursement system failed to properly apply a 20 percent coinsurance limit on certain charges, and the eMedNY system lacked controls to detect incorrect claims information about Medicare payments, according to an audit released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.  The audit was among three DiNapoli released on Medicaid waste Monday.

“We keep ringing the same bell, but DOH just doesn’t hear it,” DiNapoli said.  “Time and time again, our audits have found overpayments, double payments, and fraudulent payments.  Taxpayers can’t afford this.  Now more than ever, every dime counts, and $100 million is a lot of taxpayer dimes.  DOH has to do a better job of protecting the taxpayers’ money.” 

Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri (NY-24) voted for legislation last week that will spur job creation in the new American clean energy industry and provide rural communities much needed relief from increasing costs for electric power.  The Rural Energy Savings Act (H.R. 4785), or “Rural Star,” will provide loans to homeowners and farmers in rural communities to improve their energy efficiency and lower their utility bills, creating American manufacturing and installation jobs in the process.

“Rural communities face unique challenges with access and affordability of electricity and continue to pay among the highest prices for energy in the country,” said Arcuri.  “The Rural Star program will provide loans to homeowners and farmers in rural communities for renovations to become more energy-efficient, which will boost the economy by creating manufacturing, retail and installation jobs while lowering energy bills.”

Amie Hendrix Named Youth Services Director

The Legislature confirmed County Administrator Joe Mareane’s appointment of Amie M. Hendrix as Director of Youth Services.  Confirmation was unanimous, with Legislator Kathy Luz Herrera excused.

Ms. Hendrix, who currently resides in Interlaken, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Niagara University and a Master’s degree in Strategic Leadership from Roberts Wesleyan College.  Since 2007, she has led community-based programming as Community Partnership Director for the American Lung Association, based in Rochester, and from 2004-2007 was Youth Action Coordinator at Rochester’s Huther-Doyle Memorial Institute. 

Legislators acting as an Expanded Budget Committee spent their third night hearing department budget presentations, as they proceed toward action on a 2011 County budget.  Presentations tonight continued to focus on requested over-target spending—maintenance of effort requests to restore reductions, many related to staffing, that were needed to meet the County’s required 6.9% spending reduction.  Several noted that there was no way to meet the required reduction without reducing personnel.

County Administrator Joe Mareane has included some of those over-target requests in his $74.4 million tentative budget, telling Legislators that his general criteria for recommending such spending relates to his belief that the reduction would negatively affect health, safety, or core governance.

Barbara Lifton if running for a fifth term as New York State Assemblywoman.  Originally from the Geneseo area, Lifton, a former teacher, moved to Ithaca in 1984.  She has two children, Christine and Paul, and is a grandmother.  She served as Chief of Staff to Assemblyman Marty Luster before he left the Legislature.  Lifton ran for and won his seat, and has is currently completing her fourth term in Albany.  Lifton took some time Sunday to talk to the Lansing Star after appearing at the Tompkins County Democratic Committee's annual 'Meet the Candidates' barbecue in Stewart Park.

Lansing Star: Why are you running again.  You are finishing your fourth term, so haven't you done everything yet?

Barbara Lifton: There is always work to do.  You pick up an issue like hydrofracking.  We're only partially through that issue.  I'm very invested in it.  I want to continue.

Town Board members were shocked to learn Monday that money the Town awards to the Lansing Older Adults Program (LOAP) and other local programs may be illegal.  Town Attorney Guy Krogh presented a three page summary of law that outlines specific kinds of programs that are eligible for public funding.  He said that municipalities like Lansing may only expend public funds on organizations that are covered in the New York State constitution, or that are covered by exceptions passed by the State Legislature.

"LOAP certainly isn't within the statutory exceptions," Krogh noted.  "So the question is, what's the basis for that expenditure?  I think this is probably an impermissible gift of public funds, though it may be authorized if it was structured differently."